Resolutions
by Kryten
Summary: A girl named Tara Wilson begins to have strange dreams about herself, her father, and the Teen Titans. Is she starting to crack up.. or starting to remember? Sequel to Things Change. COMPLETED!
1. Who's Your Daddy?

_Resolutions pt. 1: Who's Your Daddy?_

_Author's note: Like many of you, I was VERY disappointed in "Things Change". What follows is the first chapter of my way of "correcting" that episode. This also forms part of the backstory for my other TT fic, "Home Fires Burning", which is stalled until I finish this.

* * *

_

"_Terra! Come on! We gotta go!"_

" _I have to stay."_

"_No!"_

"_I'm the only one who can stop it."_

"_Please, Terra, you can't! It's too late!"_

"_It's never too late."_

"Miss Wilson?"

"Wha?"

Tara's eyes snapped open. Everyone in class was staring at her. "Well, nice to have you back with us, Miss Wilson." the teacher said, as everyone tried to stifle giggles. "I know pre-calc isn't the most exciting way to spend the afternoon. However, daydreams won't be getting you into the Ivy League, will they."

"Uh, no, ma'am, Tara acknowledged. "I'm sorry."

"'Sorry' won't get you into the Ivy League either. However, what WILL is the ability to demonstrate this proof for the rest of the class. And I'd like to see you afterwards to discuss these attention problems of yours."

Sighing, Tara ignored the muffled snickers of the rest of the class and approached the board.

* * *

The goatee'd man with the light bulb on his chest floated in mid-air, his feet perched on a solid platform. Next to him, a small bald-headed boy with a spider-legged backpack was slicing through the wall of the First National Bank.

"Excellent, Gizmo," Dr. Light said, rubbing his hands together. "Soon, I'll be richer than Bruce Wayne, Lex Luthor, and Bill Gates combined!"

"'I', Dr Light?" the floating dome-brained man in the purple robe said, eyebrow raised.

"Ah, yes," Light said nervously. "'We.' I meant 'we.'"

"Don't care about the money," said a figure in orange-and-gold armor. "I jus' wanna blow somethin' up."

"Sorry, Neutron," said a voice from above. "The only thing getting blown is..."

"Let's... not go there," another, female voice deadpanned.

"Ah..." Light said. "The Titans have arrived. But this time... you'll find the advantage mine. Fearsome Five... ATTACK!"

The massive giant known as Mammoth tackled Cyborg. Neutron, a human atomic warhead, targeted Starfire. Raven found herself once again locked in a battle of wills with the mentalist Psimon. And Robin himself was waylaid by Gizmo.

"That's it!" cackled the Five's leader. "Show them they're no match for Doctor Light and his Fearsome Five!"

"This is nuts," muttered Raven. "Normally I'd have already kicked his butt by now."

"We wouldn't be having this problem if Beast Boy didn't keep flaking like this," reminded Cyborg "Where is the little grass stain?"

* * *

"You haven't touched your pie, hon," the waitress told the green boy.

"I'm not really hungry," Beast Boy answered. "I just... like to look at it."

"Huh. Whatever," the waitress answered.

Beast Boy had been coming here a lot ever since that day. The day he'd been rejected by the first girl he'd ever really loved. This place was the only one where he could still feel close to her. But sometimes, those memories grated like an annoying electronic beeping noise... oh, wait, that was his communicator.

"Uh... hi?"

"_Yo, Beast Boy, where the hell are you? We're gettin' our butts handed to us!"_

"Sorry... I, uh, kinda lost track here."

"_Well, get your lime-green ass over here 'cause I ain't about to lose to a buncha guys who work for Doctor Light!" _Off-screen, someone knocked the comm away. The next one to pick it up was a grinning bald kid with goggles. _"Don't bother gettin' up, Beast Boob," Gizmo razzed, "We can handle these kludgeheads just fine without you."_ With that, the pint-sized genius cut communications.

_Great... now everyone thinks I'm a flake, _thought Beast Boy. _I'd better go help them... maybe that way, they won't kick me off the team.

* * *

_

"That's it, struggle, fools!" bellowed Doctor Light as the Titans grappled with his teammates. "It will all be in vain, for you are nothing compared to—"

He was cut off as a green rhino charged onto the scene, plowing into Mammoth and knocking him into the wall. The rhino quickly morphed back into a green-skinned human in black and violet. "Uh, sorry I'm late," he said sheepishly.

"We'll talk later, Beast Boy," Robin scolded as Gizmo was knocked off by the freed Cyborg's sonic blast. "Right now, help the others."

"Please," Starfire interrupted. "I could very much use some of the help, yes?" she requested as she dodged Neutron's radiation blasts. Robin quickly hurled a birdarang at the flying figure, which froze him solid upon detonation.

"Help... right.." muttered BB. He morphed himself into a peregrine falcon, launched himself into the air, and, mid flight, switched to the form of a starfish, clamping down tightly on Psimon's face.

'Thanks," Raven said, her gaze turning towards the instigator of the battle. "Well... wanna try this again, Doc?" she asked, a rare grin marking her features.

"You... uh... you're all on your own!" was his answer, as he bolted.

"So much for our 'fearless leader'" groaned Psimon as Beast Boy and Starfire restrained him.

"Okay... so, Beast Boy," began Robin, "Mind telling us what's going on?"

* * *

"Please, sit down, Miss Wilson," began the teacher. "We can begin as soon as... ah,"

In walked a distinguished-looking, well-dressed man in his fifties. He had snow-white hair and a goatee, and there was a patch over his right eye (an old war injury, he said). _Oh, no, _thought Tara. _They called in Daddy._

"Good afternoon, Mr. Wilson," the teacher said. "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you," he answered, smiling. "And please... call me Slade."


	2. Shattered Dreams

Resolutions pt. 2: Shattered Dreams

"I'm very disappointed in you," Slade said as he drove his daughter home. "You know I expect you to do your best at all times. No daughter of mine will be a slacker."

"Yes, Daddy," Tara Wilson answered. "I promise I'll do better. It's just... I've been having these dreams..."

Slade raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Please don't keep them to yourself. If you're having trouble... well, I'm here for you, dear."

"Well... okay... it's kinda silly, but I keep dreaming that I'm one of the Teen Titans. And it always ends with me in a volcano that's erupting, and everything goes white, and then... I wake up."

"Didn't you mention that one of the Teen Titans visited you last month?" asked the older man.

"Yeah, it was the green one. Beast Boy. He kept saying that I was someone called 'Terra', that I had powers, that I was a Titan. At first I humored him, because he seemed nice. But then it got really creepy."

"It's probably just your subconscious. Deep down, most likely a part of you was intrigued by the notion that you could have been a hero, and that's what's generating these fantasies. Rest assured, Tara... you are not, nor have you ever been, either metahuman or a superhero."

"I know, daddy... it's just... the dreams are so real."

"They may seem real now, but they'll fade eventually. You'd best just forget about it."

"I... guess you're right, Daddy," sighed Tara. She changed the subject. "Can I go to the mall with Cissie and Anita later?"

"Your grades are in no shape for mall-crawling, young lady," admonished Slade. "You're grounded until you get back up to at least a 3.0."

"But Jimmy Rook's new CD comes out today! We HAVE to have it or we're sentencing ourselves to total social ostracization!"

"I'm sorry, but your grades are far more important. However, if you get an A on your next test, I'll pick up a copy of the CD for you, how's that?"

"Arrggh!" screamed Tara in frustration. "That's not the same and you know it!"

Slade sighed inwardly. _Lie low, you said. Try the normal life for a while, you said. Try to be the father you always wished you could be, you said. _

Compared to the agonies of raising a teenage girl, super-heroes and giant demons were a walk in the park.

* * *

Beast Boy entered the command center of the Tower, where Robin already awaited in his seat at the big table.

"Sit down," he said calmly. _Great, he's calm, _thought Beast Boy. _That's the worst._ He nervously took his own chair.

"Look," he began, "about today...

Robin cut him off. "It hasn't just been today, Beast Boy. Remember last week, when Ding Dong Daddy and Johnny Rancid hit the auto show? You were late for that one, too. And a few days before that, when we took on the Gargoyle? You didn't even show up that time."

'Jeez... do you give Kid Flash and Jinx this kind of grief? They haven't been around either!"

"Kid Flash and Jinx ASKED for time off. You, on the other hand, haven't been telling anyone about anything." Aware that he was shouting, Robin lowered his voice. "Look... I'm not just the leader of this team, I'm your friend. If there's any kind of trouble..."

"It's... it's personal stuff."

"It's that girl, isn't it?"

"Uh... yeah, actually, how do you know?"

Robin smiled. "You don't spend years with the world's greatest detective without picking up a few things. Speaking of... I did some research. Beast Boy... that girl couldn't possibly have been Terra."

"But... she looked just like her... and sounded... and for a second it was even like she remembered."

"When was the last time you visited her statue? Wasn't it around early October?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because that girl's been enrolled since September. While the Statue was still there in the cave. Face it... it's not her."

Beast Boy slumped. "You're right. I... I kinda just wanted it to be her. But it never was, was it." Slowly, he got up. "Can I have the night off? I need some time to myself."

Robin shrugged. "Okay. Take your communicator, though. We may need you."

"Thanks," Beast Boy said, as he left.

_Jeez, _Robin thought, _I hope he can get his head together.

* * *

_

Page after page of mathematical problems stared back at Tara. _Stupid pre-calc... make sense! _The page stubbornly refused to obey her commands, though, and remained just as impenetrable.

_This was all Daddy's fault_, Tara's mind told her. _I should be out there with my friends, but I'm stuck in here all night with stupid math problems, until they're done... and then I'm stuck here all night WITHOUT the stupid math problems._

_Screw this. I'm sneaking out._

Tara tiptoed past the door to Daddy's study. Daddy usually spent his nights in there, doing who knows what... not that Tara had ever cared. It wasn't her problem. The window was Tara's target... from there, she could easily shimmy down the trellis and reach the ground. She had to be quiet, though... Daddy had really good hearing.

Taking off her sneakers, she tiptoed towards the window, carefully sliding it open, wincing at the slight squeak. She braced... but no footsteps followed. He hadn't heard, thank goodness. Carefully, Tara descended to the ground. Re-donning her sneakers, she hurried off into the night.

* * *

"We're closin' in a half-hour, kid," the gravely-voiced waitress reminded Beast Boy. "I don't really care where you go, but y'can't stay here.

"It's okay, I should probably just get going."

He got up and was about to leave when a familiar figure entered the diner.

Beast Boy sighed. _Of all the pie joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.

* * *

_

Tara wasn't sure what possessed her to walk into this particular greasy spoon. Upon entering, though, she knew it was the wrong one.

HE was here.

"Uh, hey," Beast Boy began.

"No! Just... leave me alone, okay! Leave me alone!"

"Actually... I kinda just wanted to apologize for the way I acted last month. It's just that you look a lot like someone I used to know and..."

Tara felt constricted. It was as though the walls were closing in. Walls of lava...

She screamed.

The earth itself echoed her.

* * *

It was a mild tremor, as they go in Northern California. On a normal day, people would barely even notice it.

The only truly odd thing about it was that it started at the exact time Tara screamed.

When it was over, their eyes locked.

"You... you just..." Beast Boy finally stammered.

"No... no, I didn't do that! It wasn't me!" screamed Terra as she fled the diner.

"Hey! Come back!" yelled Beast Boy, but it was too late She was gone, once again... and now there was probably no way she'd ever talk to him again.

"Okay," Beast Boy muttered as he got out his communicator. "Now maybe you'll believe me."

* * *

So shaken from the encounter was Tara that she didn't even bother with stealth once she reached home. So, when she loudly flung the front door open, Slade was easily roused from his work. Emerging from his office, he found his daughter frightened and sobbing.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, daddy, I snuck out to go to the mall but he was there and I saw him and he saw me and the ground shook and he said I did it and I was all 'no I didn't but he said I did and I just couldn't stand it any mo-"

"Pygmalion," responded Slade. Tara froze in her position, as though she had somehow become petrified; her eyes showed no awareness.

This was troubling, Slade thought as he paced. This iteration was supposed to have no powers... yet it seemed as if she had, in fact, a functioning metagene after all. The shock of the discovery would be the first crack in the dam he'd built to hold back her memories. Oh, he could easily wipe her short-term memory and eliminate this particular crack... but there would be other reminders, other potential slipups, other cracks, until they spiderwebbed across the surface and shattered it, and a torrent of memory poured forth to wipe away the new life Slade had built for his charge... destroying his final chance to do it right.

No.

This time, he would not fail.

He entered his study. On the south wall, there was a large bookcase. Hundreds of volumes lined the shelves, including Sun Tzu's _Art of War, _Machiavelli's _The Prince, _and Dale Carnegie's _How to Win Friends and Influence People._ The typical cartoon supervillain would have hidden a secret switch behind one of these books. No doubt, such a switch would cause the bookcase to slide aside, revealing a hidden staircase to some secret lair or laboratory. Anyone looking for such a switch in this office would be wasting their time. What they REALLY should be paying attention to would be the snowglobe of Jump City located on his desk. Shaking it activated a transponder that would contact a teleport device located in an obscure cave outside Star City.

Slade Wilson did exactly that now. Within a fraction of a second, he was in a hidden chamber deep within the cave.

Now, HERE was a supervillain lair. A wall of supercomputers here. There, a bank of monitors displaying activity in every major city. Elsewhere, his robot minions stood at silent alert, ready to do his bidding. Here, the cloning tanks that had been so instrumental to the whole project. And there...

It had been a while since Slade had worn the armor. The last time, the city was in flames and a massive demon lord loomed over the world. This time, the situation was far less apocalyptic, though potentially just as desperate, at least in his eye.

The armor still fit perfectly; of that there was no worry. Slade still trained eight hours a day, having little need for sleep. The experiment had seen to that. His body was constantly maintaining itself in peak physical condition, and even the bite of age had not been able gnaw away at his physical perfection. His eye was his only flaw... for some reason it had never healed.

Oh, well. 99.9 of perfection is still impressive.

His mask now in pace, Slade Wilson, the father was gone. Slade, the criminal mastermind, was firmly in charge now, for what he hoped was the last time.

From the corner of the lair, one item had to be retrieved... with it firmly in place, he could proceed.

And when he was done, no one would ever bother Terra again.

* * *

"I'm telling you, it HAD to be her!" insisted Beast Boy.

Sighing, Robin answered "We've been over this, Beast Boy. The records show that Tara Wilson was enrolled at Murakami High BEFORE the statue vanished."

"Well... records can be faked, can't they? Or maybe someone replaced the real statue with a fake, or maybe... the point is, she caused an earthquake!"

Less certain now, Robin still offered a defense. "Well... this IS California. It COULD have been a natural quake."

"Centered exactly where we were? The odds of that have to be astrotomical!"

"Astronomical," corrected Robin.

"That too!"

"Look, even if you ARE right... what can we do? She's said she wanted to be left alone."

"Well, maybe she's under some kind of control or something?"

Robin was about to try a rebuttal when the viewscreen crackled to life.

"_Hello, Titans," _the masked figure on the screen said. _"It's been a while, hasn't it."_

"Slade," muttered Robin under his breath.

"_You remember. I'm flattered."_

Robin whipped out his communicator. "I want EVERYONE at the Tower immediately."

* * *

"So, that's Slade?" asked Kid Flash, bored. "Should I know who he is?" Jinx elbowed him in the ribs to shush him.

"_I'm glad you could all join us,"_ said Slade_. "Is that Jinx? I'd heard she'd gotten herself a conscience. I wonder how long it'll last."_

"Shut up," muttered the reformed witch.

Whatever camera was relaying Slade's image followed him as he strolled around his lair. _"I believe you recognize my guest."_ He indicated a statue of a young woman in long hair and a tattered battlesuit, frozen in a position forever.

"It's a fake," muttered Beast Boy. "I saw her. I felt her powers."

"_Oh, I assure you, Beast Boy... this IS the real thing._ _You are looking at Terra's actual petrified body."_

"Again, who?" asked Kid Flash.

"He's lying!" insisted Beast Boy. "It's just some statue he carved to look exactly like Terra!"

"_I have no reason to lie, Beast Boy. One never lies when the object is to teach."_

"So... what's the lesson?" asked Robin. To the side, he gave Cyborg a nod that was instantly understood to mean _Do you have a trace on him? _Cyborg shook his head.

"_I assume you'll want to ascertain her authenticity. Meet me in Haney Valley in one hour. You'll have your chance to assure yourselves it's her."_

"We'll be there," assured Robin.

"_I look forward to it,"_ Slade replied as he cut off contact.

"Okay, I know I'm the newbie here, and I know I don't know anything about anything, but doesn't this whole situation just SCREAM trap?" asked Kid Flash, confused to the point of exasperation.

"Of course it does," Robin answered. "But one of our own is in trouble. We HAVE to answer the call."

* * *

Haney Valley was located halfway between Jump City and Star City, a flat gap in the Cardy Mountains. Stone towers jutted up all around, jagged peaks reaching to touch the sky.

It was here the Titans had first met Terra. Slade had clearly not chosen this location at random... Slade never did anything at random.

"So, where is this guy?" asked Kid Flash, a blur of impatience. "I don't wanna miss tonight's _Marooned_." Suddenly, he vanished, then returned. "Never mind. TiVO'd it."

"Focus!" hissed Robin.

"Ah," echoed a voice through the dusty valley. "You've arrived."

The team whirled. Somehow, even though they were prepared, Slade had gotten the drop on them. He stood, now, behind them, the Terra statue at his side, a silent witness to the tableau.

"And now, the lesson: No matter how often you foil me, no matter how often you thwart my schemes, there is always one weakness. One crack in your armor that I can always exploit."

Fear clenched Beast Boy's gut like the claw of some giant emotion lobster. Deep in his heart, he knew, just KNEW, how the next seconds would play out. And he was powerless to do anything about it, because his brain had no clue.

"And that crack is called... hope."

It happened so fast that no one, not even Kid Flash, could have prevented it, yet it seemed to occur in slow motion. Slade's fist swung toward the statue, connecting with its torso. It shattered on impact, the force of the blow spreading outward, reducing the statue to nothing but rubble.

"If you'd like, you may examine her now," Slade continued as if nothing had happened.

"BASTARD!" screamed Beast Boy, morphing into a triceratops and charging the villain. Slade moved to stop it in its tracks, but now Beast Boy was a kangaroo, leaping over his blow... now, tackling him as a baboon, now crushing him as an anaconda. The force of his coils cracked open Slade's mask, revealing the circuits and servos underneath.

"_Another _robot," groaned Robin. "This is getting really old."

Beast Boy shoved the automaton away in disgust. "He's lucky it WASN'T him. If I get my hands on the real thing, I'll..."

"Calm down," Raven admonished. "Anger won't solve anything. We don't even know if that was her or just a fake."

"Uh, well, actually..." Cyborg looked up from the rubble he'd been scanning, a sad, defeated expression on his face. "I'm picking up fragments of human DNA in the shards." He sighed deeply. "It's her."

All eyes now turned to Beast Boy. Already furious, the green-skinned teen looked now as though he would burst into flames.

"Then Slade's DEAD," he said, cold fury in every word. "And God help anyone who tries to stop me."

_To be continued...

* * *

_

_Next: Will Beast Boy make good on his promise? And the answer to the big, big question: _

If that WAS Terra that Slade just smashed, then who the heck did Beast Boy run into at the diner?


	3. Hunt

Resolutions

Chapter 3

"Beast Boy," Robin said, calmly, as the other Titans surrounded him. "Stop and think for a..."

Beast Boy screamed, an incoherent wail of rage and loneliness. His body swelled up, sprouting scales, spikes, a long tail, six clawed feet, and a huge, four-eyed head with a mouth full of jagged, irregular teeth. This was no creature that had ever existed... it was rage, given form.

The beast bellowed, its tail swinging out impossibly fast, sweeping into Kid Flash before he could dodge. As Jinx ran to check on him, Starfire and Cyborg tried to restrain it, but the creature effortlessly shrugged them off. Its paralyzing tongue whipped out at Raven, knocking her out of the sky. Undaunted, Robin through one of his cryo-discs, but the beast shattered it as if it didn't exist and bounded off towards the city.

"Damn," Robin muttered. "Someone! Go after him! Kid Flash?"

"Out cold," Jinx reported. "So is Cyborg. And Raven's paralyzed."

"Lucky me," the violet-haired Titan mumbled through frozen lips.

"Starfire!" Robin shouted. "You'll have to go after him while we tend to everyone else!"

"No." Starfire stated flatly. "Beast Boy has claimed the right of vengeance. I will NOT stand in the way."

"You can't be serious!" the Boy Wonder said in astonishment.

"I have never been more serious. On Tamaran, to stand in the way of vengeance is forbidden; in fact, to do so is so contrary to our way that no one would even think of doing so."

_Damn, _Robin thought. _I've known her for so long that I keep forgetting just how alien she really is._

"Look, Star," he said, "I'd love to debate this with you, but now is NOT the time. Right now, Beast Boy's dangerous, and uncontrolled, and he could hurt people if someone doesn't stop him! As the leader of the Titans, I am ORDERING you to go after him."

"Very well," the Tamaranian replied, flying off in the changeling's general direction.

_I shall do as you wish, Robin, _Starfire said to herself. _I shall indeed follow him. I shall make certain he does not harm innocent bystanders._

_But I shall not prevent him from taking his vengeance.

* * *

_

Tara awoke in bed, her memories hazy. Daddy was smiling down at her. "Thank goodness you're all right," he said, a relieved expression on his face.

"What happened?" Tara said weakly. "Did I have... another one of my episodes?"

Her father nodded. "What's the last thing you remember?" he asked.

"That green kid was bothering me again," she said. "Then everything's a blank."

"The doctors said you shouldn't be having these lapses for much longer. Provided you've been taking your pills. You HAVE been taking your pills, haven't you?"

"I forgot them this morning," admitted the slender blonde.

"You need to take them EVERY morning, or else you'll keep having your episodes. Please." He smiled again. "Do it for Daddy?"

"Okay, Daddy," Tara said, giving him a peck on the cheek.

"That's a good gir-" Slade was cut off by a beep from his watch. "I'm sorry, dear. I have an urgent matter to take care of. Mind Mr. Wintergreen while, I'm gone, dear," he said as he left.

_Great, _Tara thought, _I'm stuck with the fossil tonight. _She sighed. _I wonder if there's at least something good on TV.

* * *

_

Somewhere on the outskirts of Jump City, Beast Boy finally ran out of gas.

Not all his forms were equal. The larger the form, the faster it drained Beast Boy's vitality. And this was close to the largest form he had ever taken. Even rage couldn't carry him so far.

And so, within seconds he'd deflated to his puny human self. Exhausted, he collapsed in a nearby alley. Unable to go on for a while, he was forced to listen to the rational center of his brain.

He'd blown it. He'd injured his friends, he'd run off with no plan, and he'd done it in a way that left him weak, vulnerable, and open.

Yet another brilliant performance from Beast Boy.

Beast Boy often asked himself why he never thought things out before doing them. In some of his more "down" moments, he wondered if it wasn't because he really WAS as stupid as everyone thought.

"Nice one, Beast Boy" he mumbled to himself. "Now what?"

"Excellent question, Mr. Logan," came a voice from just outside the alley. A huge man in armor entered, clearly in full knowledge that only one person would be walking out of the alley... and that it would be himself.

"Slade," spat Beast Boy. "Or are you just another robot? What's the matter... don't like getting blood on your own hands?"

"I assure you, Mr. Logan," Slade said, "I fully intend to carry out your demise personally."

Beast Boy released a bitter, ironic chuckle. "That's a coincidence. I was gonna do the exact same thing to you."

"You. Intend to kill. Me." Slade echoed Beast Boy's chuckle. "I'll let you in on a little secret, boy. Even Robin doesn't know this." He bent down so that his face was literally inches from Beast Boy's. "It really doesn't matter what you try to do to me. I have killed at least one member of every single species on Earth with my bare hands."

He stepped back. "So that this isn't COMPLETELY a waste of my skills, I'll be sporting. I'll let you recover enough so that you can at least give me a LITTLE bit of a challenge."

"Yeah... you're a regular saint, aren't you." said Beast Boy, panting. "What's your problem, anyway? Why can't you just leave us alone?" He glared at the masked man. "Why did you have to kill HER?"

"I'm not the one who killed her, Beast Boy." Slade said. "That body was dead the moment she was petrified. I simply disposed of it."

"You bastard. You're not even the least bit sorry."

"I have nothing to be sorry for. You, on the other hand... "He clenched his fists angrily. "You and your Titans... you have no idea what you've taken from me."

"Oh, what's that... did we prevent you from getting the "Jerk of the Year" award for 2003 or something?"

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA!" screamed the enraged villain. His temper lost, Beast Boy was barely able to avoid Slade's fist. It struck the brick wall next to him, leaving a miniature impact crater. A second's hesitation and Beast Boy's skull would have been pulped.

"You have no idea," he repeated. "I was a father once, Beast Boy. A father of three. My own mistakes took two of my children away from me. But you... you and your so-called 'hero' friends... YOU took the third. I WON'T let it happen again!"

"Hey," Beast Boy protested, "What happened to letting me recover?"

"You've had enough time," spat Slade. "Now, you're going to die."

His fist again aimed at Beast Boy, but met air. Beast Boy was now a gerbil scurrying between his feet and headed out of the alley.

"Clever," Slade said. "You've become just the right size to be stepped on. And I'd heard you were the stupid one."

Slade aimed his boot and brought it down. At the last second, Beast Boy took the form of a fly and flitted out of the way. As Slade switched tactics and attempted to swat him, Beast Boy changed once again, this time taking the shape of a spitting cobra. Wrapping himself around the villain's head, he hocked a toxic loogie directly into his good eye.

Slade hissed in pain as Beast Boy let go and reverted to human form to catch his breath. Multiple quick changes were almost as taxing as larger forms, and while normally three in a row wouldn't have been enough to wind him, in his weakened state it was causing a serious drain.

"Bravo, boy," Slade said, blinking away the venom. "You've actually managed to impress me. But you still have no hope of winning today."

"Maybe not," hissed Beast Boy. "Maybe I don't have what it takes to put you in the dirt once and for all. Maybe you'll kill me. But, damn it... I owe you pain, and before you finish with me, I'm gonna pay you in full."

With a screech, Beast Boy, now a large green baboon, tackled the criminal and clamped his jaws around his arm. His fangs had no chance of breaching the Kevlar-weave suit, but the sheer force of his jaws succeeded in dislocating the limb. Slade attempted to pry his head off with his free arm, and finally dislodged him with a head-butt. Beast Boy rolled back, again reverting to his human form. In from of him, Slade stood, his arm hanging uselessly.

_Yes! _He thought. _I've hurt him! _His hopes of a possible triumph were dashed when Slade simply popped his arm back into its socket.

"This has ceased being diverting," he said, pulling his sword from his scabbard. "I believe I'll end this now."

His sword whistled through the air. Beast Boy attempted to dodge as a swallow, but the blade clipped his wings, sending him into a spiral. He hit the ground and reverted, his bisected feathers translating into a ripped sleeve. Slade's boot followed, connecting heavily with Beast Boy's solar plexus. Agony flared within his chest as he collapsed.

"That pain you feel right now would be your fourth, fifth, and sixth ribs. You might as well give up, Beast Boy," Slade said. "If you do, I'll make it quick."

"Go to hell," Beast Boy spat back.

"Hell is no doubt my ultimate destination," the criminal responded, "but since you clearly are inadequate to the task of sending me there... I believe I'll send you instead."

He had raised his sword and was about to bring it down, and sever Beast Boy's head in the process, when...

"I believe he said he was NOT interested!" A bolt of green energy struck Slade's sword-hand, knocking his weapon away. More bolts struck him in the chest, arms, and abdomen, driving him back.

Slade looked upward at the golden-skinned girl diving at him. "It'll take more than that to stop me, girl," he said. "You have no hope of defeating me alone."

Starfire smiled. "I did not come alone," she stated.

A powerful blast of sonic energy struck Slade in the stomach, followed by a telekinetically-thrown garbage can to the shoulder and a hex-bolt to the face.

"Boo-yah! That got his attention!"

"Long time no see, Slade," remarked Robin, flanked on the left by Cyborg and Raven, and on the left by Jinx and Kid Flash, as he armed an explosive Birdarang. "You ready to end this?"

"End this?" Slade said. "My boy... you have no idea how ready I am."

_To be continued_


	4. Youthquake

Chapter 4: Youthquake

"Titans! Go!"

Slade eyed the group arrayed against him. The speedster would be the first to reach him, naturally. Slade measured his velocity, his bearing, his stride, his physical dimensions, and calculated the exact time to strike.

His mind did this in the fraction of a second that it took Kid Flash to run directly into his fist. He smiled with satisfaction behind his mask as the fleet-footed teen went down.

"Damn," muttered Cyborg. The others held off, shocked at the speed and skill that had just taken down a human thunderbolt.

"Who's next?" Slade said, mockingly.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Beast Boy," Raven said, an apologetic look on her face. "There's not much more I can do about those ribs."

Upon Robin's command, Raven had immediately gone straight for Beast Boy, quickly transporting them both away via her soul-self. The two were now on the rooftop of one of the buildings that surrounded the alley.

"Thanks for taking some of the pain away, at least," Beast Boy answered. "Now, go, they need you more."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" asked the violet-haired empath.

"I've had worse," replied the changeling.

"Well... all right." Raven winced as she got up.

"Are you okay?" it was Beast Boy's turn to ask.

"Nnngh. It's nothing. Just a side effect. I'm used to it." She turned, and descended back towards the fight.

_Oh, right, _remembered Beast Boy. _Her healing powers don't eliminate pain... they just let her absorb it from others. _

_Terriffic... I'm STILL more trouble than I'm worth, _the young metamorph thought ruefully. Well... enough was enough. He'd find some way to contribute.

Somehow.

* * *

Slade dodged between the hex bolts wildly hurled by Jinx. _So, my intel was right, _he thought. _The witch and the speedster. Who would have guessed? Me, that's who._

Reaching into his belt pouch, he withdrew a half dozen tiny spheres and hurled them into the air. They exploded into a burst of brilliant light, blinding everyone in the vicinity. Of course, Slade had been thoroughly trained in the art of blind fighting, as he was sure Robin had been.

Jinx, however, had been rendered quite useless. Sensing her light footfall behind him, He swung, clocking her on the back of the head. She fell, instantly concussed.

_This will be easier than I thought, _Slade mused, just before something large slammed into him, knocking him into the air, out of the alley, and into the street, directly into the path of traffic.

Years of training enabled him to land on his feet and hurdle the oncoming truck with ease. Still... he had misjudged his vulnerability.

A mistake he would not make twice.

* * *

Cyborg's good eye blinked as his vision slowly cleared. Slade had forgotten that his cybernetic eye wouldn't be overwhelmed by a brilliant burst of light. This had worked to the Titans' advantage.

"Everyone okay?" he asked.

"Kid Flash and Jinx are out of it," Robin reported. "The rest of us are starting to regain our vision."

"Well, good. I've widened the playing field a bit."

"Splendid," Starfire replied. "I was starting to feel the cramped."

"Let's make the most of it," Robin said. "Titans, go!"

* * *

"_I'm terribly sorry, but your effort was remarkably dreadful. If I had to describe your voice, it would be somewhere between a cat in heat being strangled, and an asthmatic orangutan. I award you no points, and, in fact, am considering suing the producers of this program for making me listen to you."_

Sighing, Terra changed the channel. She didn't know why she even bothered with that show... listening to obnoxious, self-important people annoyed her. Yet, there really wasn't much else on...

The math problems were finally done, and it was time to kick back... so to speak. She'd rather be somewhere else. Anywhere else.

Was there anything decent on? The Cartoon Channel was showing a marathon of some stupid show about a monkey... the Learning Channel was running one of those home remodeling shows that seemed to be all they showed lately... at least that obnoxious jerk was occasionally funny. She gave up, and switched back.

"_...interrupt for this report. Downtown Jump City is being cordoned off, as there appears to be a superhero/supervillain fight in progress. We go live now to our correspondent Chris King."_

Crap. A news brief. She hated these.

"_Thanks, Bethany. It appears the Teen Titans are in pitched battle with an as-yet unidentified supervillain at the corner of Wolfman St. and Perez Ave. A section of Downtown has been evacuated for... what? We have a visual? Okay, put it on the screen."_

Tara froze. That mask... it was the same one she'd been seeing in her nightmares, half black, half orange, only one eyehole...

"_It appears that this is the same man responsible for the Terra incident about two years back." _Stock footage was inserted of a slender girl with long blonde hair wearing a bizarre uniform. No... not a girl.

It was her.

"_If you can recall, it involved the city being placed under siege by a mysterious blond earth-controlling girl and several of her minions..."_

_Terra... Earth-controlling... _

She remembered it all now.

The man in the mask killed her, and he was still walking around.

And she had the power to stop him.

She had the _power_.

* * *

Starfire struggled to rid herself of the strange foam that was quickly spreading over her. "What manner of X'hal-forsaken trickery is this?" she snarled.

"Ah, yes... a special creation of my own. Quick-spreading, quick-hardening, and it drains solar energy like a sponge. I originally developed it for use on a certain Kryptonian, but it seems to work just as well on you."

Robin took in the situation. Four of them were now down for the count. It was down to just himself, Raven, and Cyborg.

He could work with that.

"Okay, on three," he whispered. "Combat maneuver Radar Victor Radar." The other two nodded.

"Azarath, metrion, zinthos," invoked Raven, as quietly as she was capable of. A dark aura formed around her, expanding into a large birdlike shape, as Cyborg and Robin charged towards Slade. The latter hurled a volley of shuriken at the masked man, who easily dodged them. As Robin had expected. The shuriken weren't the point of Radar Victor Radar, anyway.

Just as the two male Titans neared Slade, Raven's shadowy form suddenly swooped in, absorbing them and phasing through the ground. Moments later, she phased up behind him, releasing her friends directly on top of him.

"Hey, Slade, how ya like me now?" crowed Cyborg as he tackled Slade.

"Immobilized," deadpanned the mercenary as he unjointed his arm and slammed a small disc on the back of Cyborg's torso. A quick sequence beeps gave way to an arc of electricity that lanced through the cybernetic teen's electronics, frying them. The blue glow of his bionic parts faded to black, and the light went out in his mechanical eye.

* * *

Tara

_(No. That name is a lie. Just like the rest of my life.)_

Terra arrived at the scene of the battle. The entire area had been blocked off by the police.

Terra's approach did not go unnoticed. "Halt!" an officer demanded. Terra ignored him and approached the barrier. "You can't go in there!" the officer emphasized, approaching to restrain her; with a gesture, Terra upset the ground beneath him, knocking him back on his rear.

"All right, you've been warned!" another officer spoke, drawing her billy club. Continuing to ignore the authorities. Terra wrenched a chunk of the pavement out of the ground and flew it over the barrier, into the restricted zone.

"So... do we follow her?" the officer asked, pausing to assist her fallen counterpart.

"Hell no," a third police officer replied. "Didn't you recognize her? That's the chick who led that army of robots a couple years back. She put a lot of good cops out of action for a long time. You ask me... if she wants to go get herself killed, I say good riddance."

* * *

"Not... again..." said Raven through clenched teeth as she keeled over, paralyzed from the venom in the dart stuck in her thigh.

"Just a little something I mixed up in my spare time. Instantly paralyzes every muscle in the human body, yet leaves the mind completely intact. It's the ultimate prison, one could say." He turned toward Robin. "And now... the main event." One by one, the mercenary removed all his weapons, keeping only his staff. "You and me, Robin. Mano e mano."

"What's your game, Slade?" the Teen Wonder asked, glaring, as he drew his own staff.

"No game. Just a chance to see which of us is the best." He struck a fighting stance. "I always knew, eventually, it would all end here."

The two squared off, at first just circling each other, with the occasional feint to gauge the other's reaction time. After several minutes of this dance, the fight began in earnest. The blows started slowly at first, each one blocked by the other.

"So..." Robin taunted, "why even bother? Why not just shoot me?"

"Not nearly as satisfying," Slade replied. "I'd much rather crush you fairly."

"I'm touched," the younger replied sarcastically. "Really."

The fight picked up now, as the blows came faster and more furiously. Still, neither was able to land a single blow.

"You've improved a great deal," Slade said admiringly.

"Gee, thanks. That means so much coming from you."

"Have I mentioned how much I HATE sarcasm?" The blows were now, if possible, even more furious than they had been. It was now just a matter of time before someone's defense faltered.

And so, ten minutes in, it was Robin who drew first blood with a blow to the side of Slade's head. "A lucky shot," he admonished. "You won't get to repeat it."

"You tell yourself that," answered Robin. But, as the fight continued, it became clear that this was no idle boast; Slade landed the next blow, then the next.

"You're tiring," the masked man said. "For all your bravado, you're still merely human."

"And you're not?"

"I am... and more."

Robin had to admit, his strength was starting to flag. Slade's seemed undiminished, though... it was as if he was drawing on some inexhaustible fountain of strength. He had to face it. Sooner or later, he would fall. And Slade would be triumphant.

* * *

Terra watched as the Teen Wonder's defense became weaker and weaker. She'd have to intervene soon.

Not that she had a problem with it. Slade had used her, corrupted her, forced her to betray the only friends she'd ever have, not to mention the guy she could've liked as more than just a friend. He'd made her do horrible things, to the point that she convinced herself she enjoyed being evil. And then... he'd had the unmitigated GALL to make her think that he was... she gagged at this thought... her _father! _It was disturbing, sickening... and she'd never felt as happy as she did then. It absolutely disgusted her to think it... but she missed the lie.

In a way, Slade had made her love him. And that had been the worst betrayal of all.

In the midst of the fray, now, Robin was on his last legs. With a final, savage blow, Slade brought his staff down on Robin's, snapping it in two.

"First, you will die. Then your friends. And finally... finally, this will all be over. He can finally rest."

_Okay, _Robin thought. _Now, he's wandered into 'third person' territory. He's officially nuts. _"Only resting you'll do is in a jail cell, Slade," Robin said, bringing up the two halves of his staff, wielding them like Filipino _escrima_ batons.

"Not ME, you idiot! You've completely forgotten haven't you! And you dare call ME a criminal!" Enraged, Slade lunged, too fast for Robin to fend off, knocking his makeshift weapons away, grabbing him by the shirt. "YOU KILLED MY SON AND YOU JUST FORGOT ABOUT IT!"

_His son? But the Titans had never committed murder. The closest thing was... _

_...wait..._

And, at that moment, the final piece of the puzzle had fallen into place.

"Who is Slade?"

He knew now.

And in another minute, he would take his knowledge to the grave.

* * *

Terra stood there, in the shadows, frozen. Robin, the person who had given her a chance when no one else would, was within moments of having the life strangled out of him. She could save him... and yet, she was paralyzed by the strange parody of filial love that Slade had imprinted in her mind.

Villain or no, liar or no, conniving manipulator of emotions or no, Slade was that closest thing she had ever had to a father. She loved him with all her heart... and despised him with every fiber of her being.

It was then that Fate made the decision she could not, as a screeching green chimpanzee leapt down on the aggressor, clawing and biting him.

Forced to drop Robin, Slade yanked the chimp off his face.

Terra felt her heart lurch.

"_Flea,_" spat Slade, contemptuously hurling the simian aside. It crashed into an already-totalled van, melted back into a more human, though still verdant, form, and passed out.

Melted, too, was Terra's indecision. Clenching her fists, Terra strode forward.

"SLADE!" she called out in challenge. Both criminal and crimefighter whirled in response.

"Terra?" Robin said, comnfused.

"Tara?" Slade said almost simultaneously, his façade of unbeatability shattered.

"No... Robin's right," Terra stated, coldly. "Tara was a lie. A sick fantasy you imposed on my mind. I'm TERRA. Now and forever."

"Get out of here," Slade said, attempting to recover face, "This is none of your concern."

"It's BEEN my concern from the beginning," Terra snarled, her eyes glowing a bright yellow. "All of this was for MY benefit, wasn't it. You wanted them gone... then you would've been free to lie to me in peace."

Terra moved her hand in a quick downward motion, as if pulling something down from the sky. Suddenly, Slade felt an enormous weight slam into him. Struggling against this invisible encumbrance, he realized: this great weight wasn't on his shoulders. It was HIM.

Despite his predicament, he could help but feel some pride. Terra had unearthed, pun intended, her true potential.

* * *

Raven, still frozen, watched the scene through eyes that couldn't turn away.

Slade had been forced to the ground by some invisible force. Telekinesis? No, that wasn't it. No. Gravity. That's what it had to be. Somehow, Terra had gained the ability to command gravity.

Still, Slade managed to struggle to his feet. _His strength must be incredible, to resist that, _Raven thought. _I'd always thought he was just a human being, in some kind of power-enhancing armor. But no human could POSSIBLY be this strong. _

Slade staggered forward, towards the waiflike blonde. "Please..." he groaned, the effort obviously draining away at his strength. "It... doesn't have to... end like this. I... I can make it better. It's all I wanted. I... just wanted, for once in my life, to be the father I should have been."

* * *

Terra looked up at the two-toned mask. She thought, for a moment, that she could actually see a tear in the one visible eye."

When her fist met the mask, it shattered. As did his jaw.

"Nice job," Terra said icily as Slade Wilson, unmasked at last, collapsed to the floor.

* * *

"Man, I really, REALLY hate getting knocked out," Kid Flash muttered, rubbing his forehead. "And I really, REALLY hate being the _first _to get knocked out."

"You didn't exactly miss much," replied Cyborg, rebooted and good as new. "He plowed through the rest of us like we weren't even there."

* * *

Nearby, Robin injected Raven with something from his utility belt. After a few moments, the Azarathean began to move stiffly. Within a minute, she was attempting to struggle to her feet.

"Need a hand?" Jinx offered.

"I can get up by myself," snarled the violet-haired teen.

'Jeez, sor-REE, grumpy. I guess I'll know better then to be helpful next time."

"Listen, _Jinx_," Raven spat back, pronouncing the name the way a vegetarian would pronounce "butcher," "you may say you're reformed, and the other Titans might take you at your word, but I'm not that easy to convince. If you intend to earn my trust, you're gonna have to work REALLY hard." With that, she walked off stiffly, leaving the magenta-tressed ex-con fuming.

* * *

"Glorious!" Starfire said cheerily, flexing her own stiff limbs. "I feared they would never manage to chisel me out of that _klor'varbnet_ stuff!"

"It was our pleasure, Miss, uh, Fire, ma'am," the rescue worker answered. Starfire walked (there would be no flying for her until she'd had a chance to absorb some sunlight) over to where Beast Boy sat, his broken ribs having been taped up. "Are you well, friend?" she asked.

"Only hurts when I laugh," the changeling replied, smiling weakly. His gaze did not move; it was locked on the same location it had been for the last hour. "She's just been sitting there. Ever since the cops dragged Slade away... it's like she's just... shut off."

"Perhaps she is simply waiting for someone to turn her on?" Of f Beast Boy's odd look, she blushed. "That was the wrong choice of words, wasn't it."

"I know what you mean, though," Beast Boy said, getting up. "Who knows... maybe this'll be the first time I DON'T say the stupidest thing I could. I mean, you just used a contraction, so anything's possible, right?" He walked off, towards the solitary blonde.

Sitting down next to her, he began, "So... how're you doing?"

"I just killed my father," the girl replied, a haunted look coloring her pale face.

"Uh... he's not dead. And he wasn't your father."

"He was the closest thing to one in my life. And I think I could have killed him."

"It's okay. Once we get you back to the Tower, we c-"

"I'm not going back to the Tower."

"What?"

"Look... Beast Boy... _Garfield_..." She turned toward him, tears in her eyes. "I have a lot of stuff I need to work through, and I just don't think I can face any of you right now."

Getting up, she gave Beast Boy one last sad glance back, then walked off into the night.

"Terra, wait!" Beast Boy shouted, starting after him, but a metal hand clamped on.

"Just let her go for now, Gar," Cyborg said. "She'll be back. When she's ready."

* * *

On the other side of the continent, deep within a dark cave, the footage of the Titans' battle with Slade played. Periodically, the viewer would slow the footage, zoom in, pause it, rewind, and do it all again.

Eventually, as if he had finally found the one thing he had been looking for, the viewer shut off the screen. "Not just geokinesis," he muttered to himself in a raspy voice, "but gravity control. And enhanced strength."

Picking up the phone, he dialed. When the recipient of the call picked up, the man, dispensing with pleasantries, said, simply, "It's me. I've found her,"

"Excellent," the voice on the other end said. "As soon as you can... you will bring her to me."

_To be concluded..._


	5. Moving On

_Ch. 5: Moving On_

"_Good evening, Jump City. This is the 6:00 News. I'm your anchor, Bethany Snow. Our top story tonight: The trial of alleged criminal mastermind Slade Wilson has come to a close. After a month of testimony, the jury is about to return with its verdict. We go live now to our correspondent, Chris King."_

"_Thanks, Bethany. I'm here at the Jump City Criminal Court, where Slade Wilson has been charged with multiple counts of assault, destruction of property, and general mayhem, after his apprehension by the Teen Titans. Wilson is allegedly responsible for several attacks, including the incident two years ago in which Terra, Overload, Cinderblock, and Plasmus conquered the entire city. In fact, there are rumors that he was allegedly responsible for bringing about the Apocalypse; but, well, since we're clearly all still here, there's no way to prove it."_

"Never thought I'd see the day," Raven said, smiling, as she watched the proceedings.

"Speaking of seeing, you'd think Robin would've been glued to the TV waiting for this," Cyborg replied. "But he's barely even mentioned Slade since we caught him. Guy's acting weird even for him."

"I too worry," Starfire said. "He has been silent and... standoffish? Is that the word? He has been spending all his time training, obsessively."

"And an obsessed Robin is a SCARY Robin," muttered Raven. "I'm gonna go see if I can talk some sense into him."

* * *

Robin's fists pummeled the punching bag, chalk dust billowing with each punch and kick.

Raven watched him as she drifted in. It was almost like poetry, only the words were impacts.

His trademark costume was nowhere in sight; Robin was dressed in a simple gi, a black belt knotted around his waist. Padded gloves protected his hands. This, by itself, was unusual. What made things even odder, though, was this; for the first time since she'd met him, Robin wasn't wearing his mask.

"So, does the punching bag owe you money or something," she deadpanned. Always open with a joke. It makes forcing a stubborn macho-man to talk about his feelings a little easier.

"Oh, hi," he said, turning. "I didn't hear you come in."

"You couldn't hear Elephant Man come in over that racket. So... this is a new look for you."

"Yeah..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I just didn't feel like wearing my costume. It... kinda doesn't fit anymore."

"Yeah, well, they're about to announce the verdict in the Slade case." She leaned in, conspiratorially. "Come on up. You KNOW you wanna."

"Nah, I'm good." Robin returned to his bout with the punching bag.

"Okay, spill it, Robin. What's going on? You've been obsessing about Slade from the minute you first heard his name, and now the guy's in custody and about to be sentenced and you're suddenly 'Yeah, whatever.' You're gonna talk to me about your feelings right now."

"That's the thing, Raven. I don't feel ANYTHING. It's like... I thought my life was leading up to something. And then it happens, and I'm barely even involved." Robin rubbed the back of his head, the nervous energy within him barely contained within his veneer of normality. "It was Terra. Again." A deep sigh. "I didn't unravel his plot, I kind of... watched as it unraveled itself."

"And it's left you feeling unfulfilled."

"...yeah, that's exactly it. Unfulfilled. And I also feel like, now that this is over, there's nowhere for me to go."

"Really. So, you have no direction in your life now?"

"I think that's what I just said, yeah."

Raven groaned. "Ever consider that maybe, just maybe, none of this has anything to do with Slade?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... you're turning 18 in a month and a half. You're practically an adult. And now, on top of THAT major milestone, this happens. You're at a crossroads, and you need to decide what you want to do with your life."

"Maybe you're ri-"

"BOO-YAH!" erupted Cyborg's voice over the intercom, cutting Robin off.

"And, I'm guessing that's a guilty verdict," deadpanned Raven. "NOW are you sorry you missed it?"

"Yeah," admitted Robin. "I am. A little closure would ha-" He snapped his fingers. "That's what I need. I need real answers, straight from his mouth. Tomorrow morning, I've got a date with Slade."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Starfire's gonna be really jealous."

* * *

_Jupiter Orphanage_

_Northern Jump City_

At the desk in a room she shared with two other wards of the state, Tara Smith (nee Wilson) stared at her laptop's screen. Her counselor had suggested starting a MyPlace page as a form of therapy. Every night, she was supposed to update her online journal with her latest feelings.

Too bad she didn't have any.

Ever since the night she'd defeated Slade, it had been like a fuse had blown inside her. She didn't feel depressed, or angry, or scared, or... much of anything. She desperately wanted to; it's just that the capacity wasn't there.

It wasn't like the Jupiter Orphanage was a terrible place. A far cry from the Dickensian image the word _orphanage_ conjures up, Jupiter was a modern, well-maintained facility, with a kind staff, clean bathrooms and broadband internet access in every dorm. All this was thanks to the institution's eponymous benefactor, Loren Jupiter. Loren had originally made his fortune in the oil industry, but in his later years had embraced environmentalism and had parlayed his fortune into alternative energy research and philanthropic works.

There were no more than three kids to a room in Jupiter. Tara shared hers with Bette, an overachiever if there ever was one (and nurser of a monster crush on a certain Boy Wonder), and Duela, a hyperactive teenage prankster (and merciless mocker of Bette's crush on Robin).

Tara thanked the fates that she looked so ordinary that neither connected her with Terra. She didn't think she could take being badgered by Bette for inside gossip or being the target of Duela's jokes.

Finally giving up, she logged off her computer and relocated to the window, staring out at the grounds. As she looked out upon the greenery, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something. A closer look revealed nothing, but could have sworn that she saw a squirrel.

A green squirrel.

* * *

_That was close, _Beast Boy thought as he scurried across the branch. Terra had almost seen him that time.

Part of him knew he shouldn't be doing this. But he just couldn't help it; he was worried about her. All alone, nobody to talk to (except for that Robin-obsessed blonde and the crazy redhead). He felt as though, by watching over her, he was protecting her somehow.

Still, tonight, he'd cut it too close. As he scurried down the tree's trunk and across and off the orphanage grounds, he resolved to himself to use a different form next time. Maybe a hummingbird, or a mosquito...

"You realize that what you're doing is considered stalking."

The raspy voice came out of nowhere, and startled Beast Boy back into human form.

"Hey, what's the big id—" Beast Boy trailed off as he saw the speaker. He looked as though he'd sprouted from the darkness itself... tall, muscular, yet somehow graceful. Clad in black and grey, with a long scalloped cape that billowed around him as if it was an extension of his body. The twin peaks on his mask and the logo on his chest were unmistakable.

"...you're..." Beast Boy managed to stammer.

"I need to talk to you about your friend Terra," the dark figure began, not one to make small talk.

"Uh... sure... okay..." stammered Beast Boy, still suffering from severe awestruckness.

"Her real name is Tara Markov. She's a lost descendent of the royal family of Markovia, a small nation in the Balkan Alps."

Despite still being starstruck, this latest bit of information snapped Beast Boy out of his temporary paralysis. "Royal fa—you're kidding, right?"

"Do I look like someone who kids?" the masked man rasped, glaring.

"...guess not. Um... so... why do you need me?"

"Tara has a brother who's very eager to meet his long-lost sister. I was asked by a mutual acquaintance to get in touch with her, but I have a feeling she'd take the news better from you." He handed Beast Boy a folder. "All the information is in here. If she asks for proof, show her."

"Uh, thanks... sir..."

"One more thing..." He handed a smaller envelope over. "Make sure Robin gets this. Tell him... I'm proud of him."

"Will do, sir!" Beast Boy said eagerly as he began to thumb through the folder. Looking back up, he started to say "Thank you!"

But the man in black was gone.

* * *

_The Slab_

"Looks like your papers are all in order, Mr. Grayson," the guard said as he allowed Robin to pass. "Wow. Not many people get special permission to visit a prisoner they're not even related to. And from Judge Chase himself."

"Yeah, imagine that." Robin said, as he was escorted into the prison, the guard following closely. Today, he was wearing an unusual uniform... blue sportsjacket and slacks, black turtleneck, and sunglasses. He felt vulnerable in this mundane attire, exposed... weakened.

He was led down into the maximum security block... on his way, he passed someone being escorted out. Something was familiar about the teen's blond curls and muttonchop sideburns, He could quite place where he'd seen him, though.

"All right, kid... this is it. You have ninety minutes with the prisoner."

Taking a deep breath, Robin eased into the chair provided. Sitting opposite to him...

"Hello, Robin."

...this man could not possibly be Slade.

"Richard," corrected Robin.

His armor was gone, replaced by standard prison orange. His beard had been shaved off during the trial, and was only now beginning to grow back. A black patch covered his ruined right eye. It wasn't just the lack of costume, though. He looked... well... _old_.

"Well, first of all, I suppose congratulations are in order. I'm no doubt going to be here for a while. And when I finally DO get out, I'll probably be far too old to resume my criminal career. So... You've won."

"Gee, thanks," Robin said sarcastically.

"I suppose you're here for an explanation."

"I'd appreciate it, yes."

"Where should I start?"

"At the beginning."

"Yes. My son. Grant Wilson."

"AKA the Ravager. One of the first villains we fought after the group formed."

"He died during your encounter, didn't he."

"And you blamed us."

"Wouldn't you?"

"It wasn't us. The medical examiners proved that he died as a side-effect of the experimental steroids that gave him his powers."

Slade nodded, a bit sadly. "I know that now." He took a deep breath. "I never was a good father. Grant was the only one of my children who still acknowledged me. And when he was gone... it severed the last thread I had to something resembling a normal family. So... I became obsessed with getting it back. First with the twins, Thunder and Lightning... then you, then Terra. All of this has been at its core, an attempt to be a father again."

"How did you cure Terra?"

"Simple... I didn't. Terra was dead the instant she was petrified. But, traces of her DNA were still present, and I was able to clone her. As for her personality... her brain-patterns were crystallized. I was able to extract them and encode them into my clone's neural pathways."

"So... wait a minute. Why did you bother to encode her memories if you didn't want her to remember the past?"

"A bit of a lazy shortcut, I'm sad to admit. Without it, I would have had to manually re-educate her... not just academics, but how to speak, feed herself, everything. This was, I was able to bypass all that; I overlaid a set of false memories of her life with me over that. It wasn't a perfect solution, of course... she had to regularly take special pills to keep her true memories suppressed, as well as her powers neutralized."

"And all of this was..."

"A sad attempt to get a second chance at fatherhood, yes." Slade stroked his meager goatee. "I take it you were expecting some secret nefarious scheme. Aimed at taking over the city, perhaps, or – dare I say it? – the world."

"I'd be lying if I'd said it never crossed my mind," Robin replied, looking a little restless in the cheap plastic chair that had been provided.

Slade leaned forward, his eye locking with Robin's. "You've built me up as some kind of monster in your mind, haven't you. It must be galling to see me here, stripped of all power, reduced to nothing more than a flawed human being. It's hard to be the White Knight of Justice you fancy yourself when you don't have an opposing figure as pure in his dedication evil as you are in your dedication to good."

Robin glared behind his Ray-Bans. "Get over yourself, Slade. You're not the be-all-end-all of my existence."

"Really." His lips twisted into a smirk of triumph. "Then tell me, Richard... why are you here?"

* * *

Tara collapsed on her bed, back in her room. It had been a grueling morning, what with history, geometry, and PhysEd (and if you think dodgeball is a pain, try it while trying to conceal the fact that you have super-strength; THAT was a pain), and there were still another four periods after lunch.

She'd retreated here to regroup for the afternoon, but all prospects of a normal day were shattered when Duela burst in. "Ohmigodomidgod there's a Teen Titan in the building!" she chattered in her squeaky, hyper voice.

Tara hoped she didn't go as pale as she thought she did. Trying her best to look as though she could barely care one way or the other, she pretended to examine her nails and said. "Oh. That's nice. Which one?"

"That's nice? THAT'S NICE? And they call ME a joker. Anyway, it's that cute green one. You know, the funny one? He's always been my favorite."

"Mine too," Tara replied a bit wistfully, before she caught herself.

"AHA! So, you DO have a crush on a Titan! I KNEW Bette wasn't the only one! Next you'll probably make yourself a costume like she did, and go try out for the team."

Tara's face reddened. "It's not a crush. I just... like him is all."

"Uh huh," Duela replied, a grin spreading across her face.

"And, anyway, YOU made yourself a costume too," the blonde pointed out. "You even tried out."

It was Duela's turn to blush. "Yeah... not that that went anywhere. Robin just said 'Next' the second I stepped up. It was like I offended him or something. What problem could he POSSIBLY have had with a girl in a jester suit calling herself 'Harlequin'?"

Inwardly, Tara was worried. What possible reason could Beast Boy have to be here, other than something to do with her?

Perhaps it had something to do with some kind of fundraiser. Yeah... maybe that was it. They did that sort of thing a lot, didn't they? She'd even been involved in one of them, a charity basketball game against the Jump City Narwhals. Yeah... and Loren Jupiter had provided funding for the Titans at times in the past, maybe they were just returning the favor.

Her hopes that this was just a coincidence were dashed when the director's voice came over the intercom. "Tara Smith, please report to my office," she said. "You have a visitor."

Sighing, she got up. This could not be good...

* * *

"What do you mean by that?" asked Robin, indignantly.

"What I mean is, everything I just told you is public record. It's all been in my testimony to the court, every word. If all you wanted was answers, all you had to do was read the transcripts."

"Maybe I like the personal touch," posited Robin.

"Have you ever taken time out to visit any of the OTHER felons you've jailed?" queried Slade, pointedly.

"That's not really any business of yours," Robin replied indignantly, unable to counter his remark.

"I see," Slade said, nodding.

"Listen, 'Hannibal', I have what I came for," Robin said. "I didn't come here to get tangled up in some philosophical discussion of the nature of good and evil."

"And yet, you remain here." He leaned back into his seat. "Who are you?"

"I'm Robin."

"What do you want?"

"To keep punks like you off the streets."

"Why?"

"Because you're a threat to innocent people."

"Those are all canned answers, Richard. Not honest ones. Again... who are you?"

"I'm Rob-"

"No! That's not WHO you are! That's an identity someone else gave you! Who are you?"

"I..." He made a strangled noise of surrender. "I... I'm not sure who I am."

"Now we're getting somewhere. Now that we've established that... tell me: Who do you WANT to be."

Richard took a deep breath. "I still want to fight for justice. That hasn't changed. But... I want to forge my own identity. To..." He exhaled. "It's time for me to grow up."

He turned back to Slade. "That's why I'm here. You're childish obsession personified. And now... I can honestly say that I don't give a damn about you."

And with that, Richard walked off, not noticing the smile of satisfaction on Slade's face.

"So, it seems I've won after all," he mumbled to no one. "I've managed to, once and for all, destroy the Boy Wonder."

* * *

Tara arrived at Director Jameson's office, dreading the worst, and not seeing any prospect of anything better than that.

Sure enough, HE was there... not in costume, he'd at least had the courtesy to not do that. But he was here when she'd specifically told him not to come after him. Probably to try begging her to come back... and of course, she'd break and go back to the Tower because she felt sorry for him and all those bad feelings would come back and blah blah blah...

"Hello, Tara," Ms. Jameson began. "I suppose you're wondering why Mr... Best Boy?"

"Beast Boy, ma'am," the green-skinned boy said nervously. He was holding a folder. _Oh, what NOW, _dreaded Terra.

"Yes, of course," Ms. Jameson corrected herself. "Beast Boy, please tell Tara why you're here."

"I'm not going back," Tara stated bluntly.

"That's not what I was gonna say!" pleaded Beast Boy.

"...it's not?" asked Tara, confused.

"No! I'm here because we found out who you are!"

Tara blinked.

"...you what?"

"It's all here," Beast Boy said, opening his folder... of course, he'd had it upside down and all the papers spilled onto the desk. "Well... this gist of it is... did you ever hear of a country called 'Markovia?'"

"Well... yeah, we just covered it in Social Studies. It's a tiny country in South Europe, on the border of Bosnia and Rumania. It's a constitutional monarchy, very rich, mainly from large uranium deposits and one of the biggest ski resorts on the continent."

"Yeah... but did you know that superpowers run in the royal family?"

"I think I read that somewhere, yeah..." She paused. "Are you saying that—"

"You're royalty, Tara," admitted Beast Boy. "The King's illiterate daughter."

Tara found herself stifling a chuckle. "You mean 'illegitimate', don't you?"

"Yeah, what'd I say?"

This time, Terra didn't stifle the chuckle. "So... I'm a princess? This is all kind of hard to take in."

"It's true. And well... you have a brother who'd really like to meet you. In fact... he's sending the Concorde tomorrow. They pulled one out of mothballs just for you."

Tara felt overwhelmed. "Ohmigosh," she stammered, "I can't go, I have a paper due and I have to pack and... I have a family, I can't believe I actually have a family, and..." Completely overcome with emotion, Tara tightly embraced Beast Boy. "Oh, Beast Boy, how can I ever thank you? This is beyond anything I ever dreamed!"

The emerald-skinned teen gasped for air in reply.

"Oh... oh, yeah, the super-strength, I keep forgetting I have it." Tara loosened her grip.

"Hey," he said weakly, "just send the Royal Chiropractor and we're even."

Tara smiled. "How about I kiss it and make it all better?"

Beast Boy's eyes widened as the blonde puckered.

* * *

The sun rose in the distance. Tara gazed out the airport window, yawning. Why did the plane have to leave so early?

"Friend Terra?"

A pair of golden arms encircled her, squeezing tightly.

"...hi, Starfire." She wriggled out of the alien's grasp. "So... you're the only one who came?"

"Oh, the others are on their way... but I was too enthusiastic to wait. I could not slow myself!"

"Yo, Terra!" boomed a voice. Entering the terminal were Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, and Jinx (Jinx was a good guy now, that was hard to believe...).

"You're short a couple," Terra said.

"Kid Flash is busy helping his uncle with something. And Robin said he'd catch up."

"That's not entirely accurate."

A teen in a black bodysuit with a blue bird emblem on his chest seemingly emerged from the shadows in the ceiling rafters.

"I said I'd catch up... but I'm not Robin anymore." He dropped do the ground, landing gracefully, like the acrobat he'd been even before he'd become a crimefighter. "Call me Nightwing."

"You always did have to make an entrance," Terra said, smiling.

"Now that we have all arrived," the Tamaranean proclaimed, "I hereby propose a group hug!" Immediately, Starfire once again glommed onto the slender blonde.

"Pass," Raven started to say, but was immediately swept in with the others.

"Aw, I'm gonna miss you guys!" Terra said.

"Hey, c'mon... it's not like we can't come visit you and talk on the phone and stuff, right?" reminded Beast Boy.

"Well... yeah, but I've got a lot of catching up to do with who I am. But I WILL be back... I promise." Terra insisted, smiling. "Now, let's break this up... my plane's here, and I think Raven's starting to chafe."

"Too... much... human... contact..." protested the pale Titan weakly.

* * *

Beast Boy watched as the tiny speck that was Terra's plane vanished beyond his field of vision. Even as an eagle, he couldn't track it anymore.

And like that... he'd lost her again.

Sure, she promised she'd be back, but how long would THAT take? Maybe a year. A whole year without seeing her.

"Yo, mildew-face!" called Cyborg. "We gotta get a move on! Shockwave's tearin' up Downtown!"

Beast Boy sighed. "It never ends, does it?"

"Not anytime soon," Nightwing said, cracking his knuckles. "Bet you a pizza we can have him in custody in half an hour."

A grin spread across Beast Boy's face. "Throw in the breadsticks and I bet we can cut that down to twenty minutes."

Nightwing returned his smile. "Good to have you back with us, Beast Boy." _And is he gonna be surprised when a ticket to Markovia turns up on his pillow tomorrow night, courtesy of Bruce, _the ex-Boy Wonder mused. _Never let it be said the Bat-family can't be romantic. _"Titans, GO!"


End file.
